Merciful Fate
by Invader Makiavella
Summary: Four words: "seal it in me". They were enough to protect his village, Konoha, but not his family. Pursuing the truth, Naruto gives up his former life as Namikaze Naruto. Gen-fic.
1. I

_I hereby disclaim my ownership of both «Naruto» and its characters (applies for the chapters to come)._

**Warnings**: *sigh* I don't really do warnings, but, alas, I guess most of you do. Death of characters, I guess. And an OC… she won't last more than two minutes alive, though.

Merciful Fate

I

_I'd like to say__ I'm a proud ninja of my village, Konoha. Sadly, even though I am indeed a ninja of Konoha, I hold no pride of my position in the world. _

A soft breeze passed through Naruto's blond locks as he played in a swing, his charming laugh not stopping as it went further up, making a funny feeling to appear in his stomach every time it went down. His mother, Kushina, watched over him with a gentle smile while resting a hand on her swollen stomach.

Naruto was happy, he was just as a happy as the day his father and mother had told him he was going to have a little sibling. In fact, his happiness was related to that little baby inside his mother's stomach, as little Mako-chan (Naruto was proud to say he had given his sister her name) was due to be born in a few weeks time. He could bet Mako-chan would have blonde hair and clear blue eyes, just like him, because they were brothers, and both came from his mother, they would surely be alike!

He kept on swinging, liking the feeling of the wind caressing his face.

_Truth to be told, I would have been a fairly strong ninja of Konoha, fighting to protect it and its people, eager to die for the common good._

Naruto was in a cave, watching silently as his father worked hard with a black pattern with lots of kanji on his mother's stomach. He watched with mild fascination as that same pattern moved and danced across his mother's body, and with some concern for her, as she seemed to be in pain, if her moans were anything to go by.

The nurse took the baby out of Kushina, and cut the… large salami that was linking his mother and sister. Something stroke him odd, though, because both his mother and father told him not to get scared if Mako-chan began wailing, as all babies were supposed to cry when they got out of their mother's stomach, and Mako-chan was a little too silent.

His weird feeling was proven right when the nurse shook her head and her mother began to cry. He looked at his father's dumbfounded face. What did that mean?

_I guess… Things never go the way they're supposed to._

He had little time to think more intently of the situation, as it quickly changed with the sudden apparition of a man in a black cloak and orange mask. Naruto was quickly forgotten as the man began ranting about the Kyuubi no Youko and how the seal that held it captive would weaken when the host was giving birth.

_So that's why the kanji were moving…_ Naruto thought, his seven year old mind running as fast as it could, trying to comprehend everything that was going on.

It hurt to admit it, but he knew Mako was dead, and he got a gut-wrenching feeling that the masked man would hurt whatever was left of his family.

His musings were cut short again when the masked person began doing hand-seals at a rapid pace and called "Summoning Jutsu". His widened eyes caught a red glow coming from the man's eyes as a majestic blood red fox appeared from the smoke that sprung up, up to skies themselves.

Naruto watched, thrilled, as the fox—Kyuubi no Youko— gave a mighty roar. He didn't know what people would think about it, but, for him, what rose in front of his eyes was real beauty. Nine lengthy tails swaying with madly grace, creating winds that buffeted the trees surrounding the Hidden Village of Konoha with strength.

It was real power what, in the end, made that beast beautiful.

Naruto snapped his head back to his mother, hearing her pant heavily, red rings were surrounding her eyes and a layer of sweat made her face shiny. She was crawling to the entrance of the cave and said something to his father, who was looking between his mother, his dead daughter, and Kyuubi no Youko with a beaten expression on his face. Naruto managed to catch something his father said:

"-seal it on anyone here."

_I don't know what possessed me to follow the course of action I did._

Naruto thought it was time to prove useful for them. For the first time in his life, he decided to sacrifice himself in the behalf of other people. He stepped out of the cave.

He just wanted to live normally with his family—his mother, his father, and sister—, but that man and Kyuubi no Youko had already shattered his happiness, taking Mako with it. Some tiny voice inside him—the voice of reason— was telling him it would make no difference, that no matter how hard he tried, his life would never go back to the way it was. It was doomed to go downhill.

He paid it no heed, hoping with his entire being that the voice would be wrong; that he had the solution, and that, for his sacrifice, the rest of his family would be saved.

"Seal it on me."

_I just know that it ruined my life._

Both of his parents stared at him dumbfounded.

"Are you sure, Naruto?" His father asked him.

Naruto found it funny, in a sick sort of way, that he often got mock-angry at his father for not taking him seriously and, when Minato finally addressed him with the desired seriousness, the moment was anything but happy.

Crestfallen, Naruto said "yes."

_And thus, I had to start over. No longer as the "honorable" son of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Naruto, but as __Naruto, the orphan._

* * *

_Anyway_, narrator/Naruto's insightful words served as line breaks for this chapter (Monologue Naruto=twenty-or-so years old; Narration Naruto=seven years old), maybe next chapter will be different. So, I killed my first OC within a few minutes of creating her, sue me, but Mako's (I got her name from my favorite SN doujinka, so I don't know what it means… lol) death is IMPORTANT for the plot… somewhat.

And… I changed the storyline a bit, you know, Madara just had his vague idea of releasing the Kyuubi no Youko when Naruto was born in this fanfiction, so he gambled with fate and waited for Minato and Kushina to have another kid. He is one lucky bastard, I know. So _this_ *Maki points to chapter* will change Naruto's point of view in life and, thus, his personality.

On the other hand, this first chapter was… short. But I promise the next one will be DOUBLE the large of this.

NOW, I have a BIG (really, REALLY BIG) question: _**Should I write his Academy days? Should I pay much attention to Naruto being genin? Or should I skip it to the WAR? (I DO have the story planned, you know… for a war)**_ Remember your opinion is important (and you could give some ideas, too), so

_**REVIEW?**_ Pretty please? I will give you a smiley face and a cookie if you do! :D

If you have any question, don't hesitate to voice it… or review it, anyway.

_09-28-2010: I hate you, laptop, you erased my... hard work editing this chapter! Anyway, bye-bye to Mr. Line Break and hi there to a few "me"s I had eaten. I'll update in 1 or 2 weeks, before I make a permanent update date._


	2. II

Merciful Fate

II

Before he noticed, Naruto's days became full of activity. He was still seven years old, so he couldn't go to the Konoha Ninja Academy yet, he got some tutoring for reading, writing, and basic mathematics, though. The Hokage, as he had been quite close to his parents, had given him permission to live in the Hokage Tower, as it had a couple of rooms with bathrooms and a kitchen attached, not that anyone else needed to know so. Also, as the Tower was heavily guarded for the information that resided in it, Naruto wouldn't be left unprotected. Naruto didn't complain, as the tower had a little library in it and, whenever he had a question on something (be it basic chakra theory or just a word he couldn't understand), he would go there and ask the old woman in charge where the books on the subject he was looking for were (she would, later, just explain him how to search by himself the books he needed).

Of course, Naruto was no bookworm—he just read books when it was necessary—, and he was way better learning while watching someone and practicing until he was satisfied with his results, no matter how long it would take. He was very much an autodidact. So, obviously, when he got word of his father's ace—the _Hiraishin no Jutsu_ ("what a fitting name", he would have thought later: "Flying Thunder God")—, he did everything he could to learn the technique.

Poor him, as he didn't know the technique was not based on speed, but on summoning oneself with the help of a sealing array. So, instead on focusing in learning sealing skills (which were what he needed to achieve his goal), he began training himself on speed: speed and stamina, because, what good would it do anyone to be fast if they couldn't actually use that speed in a fight? Even _he_, a child, knew it.

In short, Naruto's days consisted on a routine of waking up, taking a bath, having some breakfast, doing a warming up routine he was taught by his Tae Kwon Do sensei before he died (it was very, very basic, as it was taught to him when he was six years old, he made a mental note to research on some more of those routines later in the day), then running around the village for no more than two hours—as his little body could handle just so much—. He would go back to the Hokage Tower for some more food and then wait for his tutor to show up and teach him language and mathematics, then, they would both keep on completing a 500 pieces puzzle (Naruto often wondered where he got that much puzzles, but they were fun enough to have him refrain from asking). He would then go to the library, and his day ended with a dinner by himself, and going to bed.

A boring routine, but it worked, and it was all that mattered.

Who was he trying to fool with that? He _hated_ routine, but he hated even more doing nothing. He was more often than not walking around, aimlessly, or twitching when he had nothing more to do. He was so used to doing things, anything, that having a 'free' day was more of a nuisance than anything else.

Well, that was one of those days. He was in his room, lying on his _futon_, trying to sleep. Because, when there was nothing more to do, sleep was the answer. Sadly enough, he couldn't fall asleep. The room was hot and sunlight was pouring through his only window; that would, usually, be a good thing, because then sun in Konoha was up and shining at 6a.m., so he woke up early to begin his everyday schedule.

Deciding that sleeping was currently impossible, he got up and took a bath. He took as much time as he could manage, feeling the warm water running down his back and hearing the constant splashes that engulfed the tiny bathroom. The water turned cold after a while, though, so he finished cleaning himself and noticed, to his dismay, that he had taken just ten minutes washing himself.

It was just eight in the morning, but Naruto already started feeling like the day would drag on until he was tearing his hair out of desperation.

* * *

Naruto was just finishing breakfast when he heard a knock on his door. He began searching in his memories if that day there would be someone going to his room. He dug deeper and deeper, but all he could find was a weird feeling lurking at the back of his mind that he had been disregarding since he had woken up.

He thought it would be better if he just saw who it was, then it would be easier to remember. He stood up from the counter and opened the wooden door to find himself watching a white clad bust. He tilted his head up and looked at the gentle and old face of the Third Hokage. Things seemed to click into place instantly: The third Hokage—affectionately dubbed as 'grandfather' for Naruto— was due to visit him that Sunday. He was so stupid! How could he forget something so important?

Seeing his grandfather smile, Naruto quickly forgot his self-anger and flashed a bright smile at him.

"Where are taking me today, grandfather?"

* * *

Naruto and the Third Hokage had a walk through the park, Naruto staying close enough to the Hokage to let him know of his comfort around him. Sarutobi didn't bother much with Naruto's lack of physical affection, he knew that, even when he was living with his parents, he wasn't one to hug or kiss those people he appreciated, he, in fact, seemed to feel the aura of warmness when he was by someone close to him, and he would return it with a kind, friendly smile.

They stopped their stroll and sit on a bench under a tree. Sarutobi asked Naruto the usual: How had he been? Had he found out anything interesting? Did anything new take his interest? Each one of his questions was answered with truth and enthusiasm. When he finished asking the normal, they fell in a very comfortable silence.

The point of the park they had chosen to sit on was very calm, having just the sounds of birds chirping and the breeze passing through the trees. He noticed by his peripheral vision that Naruto was looking at him with those eyes that meant he wanted to ask something. He let Naruto be, waiting for him to ask his question.

Hi didn't have to wait long until Naruto said: "Hey, grandfather." Sarutobi hummed, showing his attention, "can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Naruto. Go ahead." He said. He was intrigued; the boy had the personal trait of being unpredictable most of the times, so he couldn't begin guessing what the question was.

"When am I allowed to go to the Academy?" He asked with such a… cute voice. It was like the boy was trying to manipulate him to enter him to the Ninja Academy. Maybe he was, one never knew.

"You are already enrolled in it," Sarutobi replied with a smile, he, of course, knew Naruto's dream was to become a ninja, so he thought ahead and filled the papers needed for Naruto to become a Konoha Ninja Academy student, "you will begin attending to class next month".

Sarutobi couldn't help but having his smile widened at the way Naruto's face brightened upon hearing the news.

* * *

Naruto walked down the road with a smile on his face. The long month he had to wait to get to the Academy was over, and that was his first day. His happiness was evident in the way he skipped, dodging all the villagers that, at the sight of the happy boy, shook their heads and looked at him fondly. Some of them had kids who wanted to be ninja, too, so they saw them there, in Naruto, glowing like the sun.

Of course, no one but the Third Hokage and Naruto knew about his status as a Jinchuuriki, and Naruto was living a happy life, albeit a little lonely, but that would soon be repaired, as Naruto had natural charisma, and with no more than a smile and a friendly greeting he could make a friend out of anyone willing enough.

* * *

When Naruto arrived at the Academy, he met his new teacher, Iruka-sensei, and took a good look at some of his classmates.

The class was nothing special, nothing more than Iruka-sensei telling them what they would be studying (which he was sure no one really understood) and having them do introductions to the class. Of course, Naruto's was: "I'm Naruto and I like that tasty noodles grandfather gives me to eat sometimes!" and a big, toothy smile. Everyone else's were different: some kids sounded shy, others nervous, and others loud… one of them talked in a bored tone…

Naruto had little time to think about his new classmates, as Iruka told them they had lunch break for half an hour, so they could eat and play with each other.

Naruto took off rapidly.

He began walking on the Academy grounds, looking around for someone to talk to, he finally came to a big lemon tree with a girl sitting under its shade. She was playing with the fringe in her pink hair, putting it down with her tiny hands to cover her eyebrows, her head downcast, not letting him see her eyes. He went to her.

"Hey!" Called Naruto, and the girl cringed, "what are you doing here?"

"Wha… What do you mean?" Stuttered the pink haired girl, head still down.

"You should be playing with the others!"

The girl tried to say something, most likely a "but", but Naruto didn't let her. He asked her if she liked to be alone, to be so far from the other kids.

She said "no", so Naruto thought that, while she might not like being alone, she didn't like being with too much people, so he just offered to stay with her.

"By the way," said Naruto, as an afterthought, "what's your name?"

"Sakura", she said shyly, for first time getting her head up, but she didn't ask Naruto for his name, Naruto said his, though.

"It's nice to meet you, Sakura. My name's Naruto!"

* * *

The next day was almost the same, and at lunch break, Naruto looked for Sakura again, to find out she was with another classmate, Ino, playing with the other kids. Seeing that Sakura was having no problems, he stopped paying her attention and joined another group of classmates to spend time with.

Little did he know that sweet, shy Sakura would become rude, superficial Haruno Sakura.

Did anyone say something about bad influences?

**

* * *

**

Author's Note:

Hi there! I apologize for the wait people, I just _couldn't_ bring myself to begin the chapter! It was really difficult to come up with the first sentence. Alas, good thing after that everything else came out easily. Next chapter will be graduation, _maybe_ the bell test, and some missions and team bonding… somewhat. Please take notice that Naruto does care about the surnames: it's the thing that makes people change, labelling others and being labelled for their family and not their deeds. He still doesn't know he thinks this way, so hush hush. Haha.

I don't have much to say on this chapter… ummm… _**there will be NO pairings, NO harem, NO nothing**_, Ok? I'll have it clear before you ask (yes, you, the one typing in your review "I hope you put this pairing"). And… well, if you have any doubt, constructive criticism, if you found any mistake, or just feel like it,

_**REVIEW.**_ Please? (:


	3. III

Merciful Fate

III

Naruto couldn't quite say he had a lot of friends (or that he had friends at all). Even if he was a friendly person by nature, he always felt his hands sweat and his fingers twitch when around many people, especially if they were talking all at once. He had a few buddies, though. They were Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba. Shikamaru was a quiet, lazy guy, but had a feeling to him that had Naruto interested in what he was thinking, and if he was willing to share a little of his smartness with Naruto.

Chouji liked eating, and Naruto liked eating, so, for Naruto, it was obvious they would end up as buddies sooner or later. Chouji being Shikamaru's friend only made the task faster than Naruto had thought. He was always very friendly and gentle, and made it hard for someone to hate him.

And Kiba. If Naruto had to describe him in three words, he would, without doubt, say: "loud and brash". And, as an afterthought, he would add "loyal, like a dog", and then laugh heartily at Kiba's face.

They often skipped classes together to eat, or sleep, or watch the sky, and when one of them had a problem, the other three would stick by him to help. It was a good lesson about unity for Naruto, as he, subconsciously, began thinking as outrageous to leave one of his buddies alone when they were in need.

But they were just that: buddies. So, when Naruto saw he was acing all the tests, while still having a nice, long record of skipped classes, he decided going to the Academy was a waste if he was only going to kill time with other people. He became a ghost for the class, the blond kid who only went to school on exam days, and disappeared once again for the next couple of weeks.

He didn't feel guilty for not going to the Academy, it didn't matter whether he was at the very top of the group's score, or at the bottom, as none affected his chance of joining the military forces of Konoha (and he often wondered why the system was so lenient to its students); and he didn't leave anyone to worry for alone.

He spent his days researching, and learning from anyone willing to teach him (it didn't matter if they were genin, or chunin, or whatever), and anyone with knowledge to share. Suffice to be said, he absorbed all that knowledge like a sponge. He wasn't nowhere near a real ninja's level, though, as all his teachers only taught him the most basic things —those normally learnt in the Academy, and those only learnt on the battlefield.

One of the most important lessons he was given, and the one that would always follow him throughout his career, and his life, was that, in the shinobi world, tricks were the basis of all success.

* * *

Little less than a year had passed when Naruto decided to attend to the Academy, to see what was happening.

He, living in the Hokage's Mansion, that also worked as administration building, was prone to hearing things—gossip, if you may. Most of it was of no interest to him, even if he kept an ear up for anything that may as well be useful to him. As one of his teachers had said, knowledge is power (he remembered him: an old, bald man, crippled during the Second Great Shinobi War, that walked crookedly, as he only carried a cane to support his leg. Naruto had to look very deep into his stories to get the important lesson), and gossip, as annoying as it may be, was a way of knowledge well in Naruto's range.

This particular rumor was about the Uchiha clan, one of the dominant families in Konoha, in charge of the police force. It was said that the clan was murdered (that was old news, everybody knew that clan had been massacred) by one person: Uchiha Itachi, resident genius of Konoha. Graduated at age seven, became chunin at eight, jounin at ten, joined the Special Assassination Forces (also known as ANBU) at twelve. He left only one Uchiha alive, his brother, Uchiha Sasuke.

Uchiha Sasuke was, coincidentally, in Naruto's class. Naruto was interested, as he had lost his family, too (even if not at the extent of having his family killing his family, as redundant as it may sound). He wanted to see how Sasuke was coping with his loss, and he couldn't quite wait until the next exam season, where students weren't interested in talking about anything that wasn't the test they were given.

So he found himself sitting beside one of his classmates. A skinny guy with brown coloring to whose face he hadn't quite given a name to. He, as most of the other boys in the classroom, seemed jealous of the attention Sasuke was being given by all the girls in the class ("who does he think he is, anyway?" Naruto heard him mutter), and threw glares whenever possible.

Naruto, himself was looking intently at the crowd of girls, hoping to see a little of Sasuke through all the girls to no avail.

He felt his ears buzzing with all the noise coming in high-pitched tones, and his pointer finger softly scratching the wood of the desk. He sighed heavily; he didn't like wasting his time, and Iruka was taking his sweet time in arriving and putting that bunch of wild animals in proper order.

His patience was wearing thin, and he was starting to seriously consider pushing through all the girls to see Sasuke's damned face when Iruka arrived to call attendance, not without telling everyone to sit down. Naruto effortlessly dismissed Iruka's gaze when he called his name (a flat 'Naruto', with no surname whatsoever) and he raised his hand and said "here". He finally had a good look at Sasuke, who was on the opposite side of the desk he was in.

Naruto didn't take long to remember the Sasuke he saw the first days he had at the Academy: an arrogant kid who believed he was the best at everything, while he was barely at Naruto's level. He always had a smirk on his face when the teachers praised him for his excellent performance on the period, and told Naruto that he was the last in class, _again_, when Naruto did even better than Sasuke on the tests. The satisfied look he always gave Naruto when the results were given to them was something Naruto was used to ignore (just as Sasuke seemed to ignore Naruto's low grades were that way because he never turned homework and class exercises on, for obvious reasons).

Naruto took a look at Sasuke and compared the unusually pale, silent boy in his view with the arrogant Uchiha he was used to see. The difference was uncanny, and even if Sasuke didn't look any more mature than he was when Naruto last saw him, he looked broken, with terrific thoughts haunting his mind.

Naruto found that the way it was: a tragedy.

* * *

Later, when he was back at home, he couldn't help but remember an orange, swirling mask, a playful, sinister voice, and a pitch black body that blended perfectly in the darkness every time he thought about Uchiha Sasuke.

The thought alone had him shivering in fear, and curling into himself in sadness.

* * *

A filler chapter after so long of not updating, thank you very much! I intended to make this longer, but the last scene seemed the right place to stop.

I hope this chapter cleared the questions about Itachi and Sasuke, and Naruto's age regarding Itachi.

Please **REVIEW**: ask questions, give suggestions and tell me where I need to improve. Your reviews may change the story, and will definitely make easier for me to write the next chapter!

3


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